My mom is currently making her way across the United States to come spend Thanksgiving with me and Mike. She’s actually in Denver as I write. So I feel it is fitting for me to write a blog post about her!

As most of you know, Mike and I made the long trek from Baltimore to Santa Barbara 3 years ago. We’d both lived in Baltimore our whole lives (besides my stint living in DC and him living in North Carolina for college). It was heart breaking to hug my mom goodbye that August morning and hop in a car headed 3,000 miles west. I remember thinking, “I wonder if we’ll ever live in the same state again?” That thought had me crying for at least 2 states into the drive.

People will often tell me, “don’t worry when you get homesick just remember you’re only a plane ride away.” Oh yea just a plane ride? Just so happens to be a 6 hour (usually with multiple layovers which bumps it to 10 hours), throw in the occasional flight cancellation, and the lovely cost of $500. Let’s just say I don’t travel home very often. So when my family comes out to visit it is a HUGE deal.

So back to my mom, who likes to call herself JP (those are her initials). Mike calls her JP and so do most of my friends. As for me I call her Mommy. I tried calling her Mom, Ma, Mother, Janet, or JP, but I just couldn’t do it. I know I sound like a 5 year old, but Mommy is her name in my head. Same reason I have a hard time calling people by their nicknames.

Other random facts about my mom:

She likes things in threes. I have no idea why, just a little obsession.

She is addicted to coffee, and lip lube, and Twizzlers, and pie. All wonderful things if you ask me.

She is the best car trip snack packer ever. Based on our snack stash you would think we were going through the arctic tundra, but it’s usually just an hour drive through civilized areas.

She’s an amazing therapist. Her work with children with autism is just astounding. I tried to follow in her footsteps but I don’t have the patience or knack for working with that population. Yet surprisingly I have the patience for teenagers? Hmmm still trying to figure that one out.

She’s the best travel buddy. We have been up and down the east coast, Oregon, California, Washington, Wyoming, Illinois, Kansas, Canada, Thailand, and even climbed the great wall of China together.

She loves bright colors. Reds, oranges, greens, purples, yellows, you name it. Amazingly she’ll have an outfit with all of these colors in it and make it look sleek.

She goes straight for the heart strings with every speech, card, letter, note, or phone call. She just doesn’t do wishy-washy surface level emotions, she goes deep.

She is a total extrovert in the sense that she’ll get louder the more people she is around. Because of this I considered myself pretty shy since I didn’t hold a candle to my mom’s personality. But then as I’ve gotten older I realize I’m a lot more social than I think.

I think the outgoing personality comes from the fact that she’s the youngest of 11. Do you think my grandparents believed in birth control? Just how Irish Catholics roll.

She got married to a great man last year….in Central Park in a snowstorm to boot! He can sing, play guitar, kick Mike’s ass in bowling, make amazing fudge, and can work in “hypotenuse of a triangle” into everyday conversation. Awesome.

She likes to laugh a lot. And usually by day 2 of our trips together we are giggling like teenagers. This is when our husbands just look at us and roll their eyes in unison. And this is when pictures like this happen:

I couldn’t resist, this pic was just too awesome. hahahahaha

So I have a feeling there will be lots of laughing, hiking, shopping, coffee drinking, pie making, wonderful conversing, and plenty of relaxing this week 😀

Your mom is an amazing woman, as are you. And you know that you are the best part of her life, don’t you?
I loved the parts about lip lube (aka lip shit), and getting more vociferous the larger her “audience”…ask any of her sibs. It’s a much quieter Thanksgiving without her.
Have a wonderful time together. Hope the apple pie turns out deliciously.

A Little About Me

My name is Lindsey and I started blogging in an attempt to share with others my journey on finding peace in this crazy life. I'm getting a PhD in Psychology and love the work I do, but it leaves little room for my own sanity. So follow me on my quest for balance through food, wine, music, celebrity gossip, and everyone I meet in between.

Drop me a line

themorningstarproject@gmail.com

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